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The CEA has developed high-performance thin silicon solar cells for space applications. We have also demonstrated a process that enables these industrial-grade cells to be radiation-resistant in orbit.
CEA‑Liten has joined the EnergyGuard Testing & Experimentation Facility (TEF) to advance trustworthy artificial intelligence across the entire European energy value chain. Backed by Horizon Europe, EnergyGuard integrates five large‑scale laboratories and Meluxina—Europe's greenest high‑performance computer—into a single service. The result is a one‑stop shop where start‑ups, established SMEs and research groups can develop, test and certify AI tools under real‑world conditions without the real‑world risk.
How can you design batteries with the lowest possible impact on the environment? Well, together with Laboratoire G-SCOP, CEA researchers combined LCA with parametric models. This unprecedented method allows them to quantify the impact of design choices on a battery’s environmental impact, including its lifetime.
Over the last decade or so, CEA-Liten has been developing composite coatings intended for various applications, including thermal protection, fire barriers, and resistance to erosion and chemical corrosion. ACHIEF (Innovative high performance Alloys and Coatings for HIghly EFficient intensive energy processes, 2020 – 2024, grant 958374), an EU project coordinated by CEA, has demonstrated the benefits of these materials in industrial applications of resistance to acid corrosion.
The pioneering MultiPLHY project demonstrating renewable hydrogen production has reached a key milestone: The consortium partners have successfully started up the world's largest multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolyzer (HTE) in an industrial environment at Neste's renewable products refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The pilot line installed at Envie 2E Aquitaine demonstrates the relevance of the abrasion solution developed by the CEA within the ITE INES.2S.
The CEA teams subjected photovoltaic panels from French manufacturer Voltec Solar to an intensive stress sequence in their laboratories. The aim was to assess their reliability. The Voltec Solar panels passed successfully, demonstrating their quality and resistance.
As part of its efforts to recover carbonaceous waste, CEA has been exploring an innovative conversion method for non-recycled plastics that uses hydrothermal gasification in supercritical conditions. Recent findings have improved our understanding of the degradation mechanisms acting on such plastics and have also paved the way for new possibilities in energy and chemical recovery.
The CEA ranks 5th among worldwide applicants in terms of international patent families registered in the field of photovoltaics for the period 2020-2023 and 13th for the period 1990-2023.
By combining X-ray diffraction and small angle scattering at the ESRF, electrochemical analysis and gas detection, CEA researchers have managed to track the degradation of an overcharged Li-ion battery in real time. This breakthrough brings great opportunities, including the ability to identify the optimal operating range, refine aging models, and improve post-production quality models.
The CEA and Canadian start-up WattByWatt are collaborating on the development of processes for manufacturing tandem perovskite-on-silicon photovoltaic cells and have achieved an initial promising result with an efficiency of 28%.
The road to high voltage, for more efficient and sustainable photovoltaics, requires technological developments in solar panels. The CEA is a pioneer in this field, with unique results and equipment.
SOREN, the French eco-organization for the photovoltaic industry, and the CEA have jointly defined prevention and eco-design criteria in an initial project with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the PV industry. In this new phase of the partnership, they are preparing for changes to the eco-design criteria.
SAGELi aim of developing safer and more sustainable lithium-ion batteries. The project seeks to resolve the NMC cells thermal runaway issue by exploring new positive electrode materials.
Why do lithium dendrites form in lithium metal batteries? This unwanted phenomenon has been delaying the highly anticipated advent of these batteries–given their record-setting gravimetric capacity– for many years. And the modeling tool developed by CEA-Liten has shed some light on why this occurs.
Experiments started in Chile in 2022 reveal that the heterojunction technology panels developed by 3SUN and the CEA significantly outperform some of the best PERC technologies.
CEA & Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers demonstrate compelling results of a novel frontsheet for lightweight PV applications, compatible with European supplying. This innovated material is formulated without PFAS raw material intentionally added.
CEA-Liten, in partnership with SOGECLAIR, ONERA and AddUp, has designed and performed mockup testing on a new heat exchanger devised for future generations of decarbonized aircraft. Capable of releasing significant thermal inputs and notable for its circular shape, this exchanger is shaped to be produced using additive manufacturing. Two patents have already been filed.
Interview de Julie CREN, responsable adjointe du laboratoire dédié à l’évaluation des systèmes énergétiques pour les territoires au CEA-Liten et relai de la mission Éco-Innovation du Liten...
With no critical materials, low impact preparatory and synthesis processes, and promising performance, the first K-ion full-cells to be assembled and tested by CEA-Liten have a bright future ahead of them. Efforts have intensified in this area with a thesis, and Carnot and PEPR (Priority Program and Equipment for Research) projects.
Our researchers were delighted to receive the “SiliconPV Award” at this year's SiliconPV conference in Oxford. This award recognizes the 10 best abstracts of scientific articles, out of 149 submitted, after a “blind review”, with authors and affiliations unknown to the evaluators.
The PHOTORAMA project consortium inaugurated its pilot line at LuxChemtech GmbH in mid-April 2025. Launched in 2021, the project is nearing completion. Let’s put the spotlight on this outstanding technological and human adventure, which won an Innovation Award at EUSEW 2024.
CARBON will unveil a demonstrator panel at Intersolar in Munich in a few days.
The latest modeling tools, which are both powerful and yet efficient in terms of computational resources, can now be used to simulate the fast charging of an 18650 cell, by characterizing current and temperature heterogeneity, stoichiometry of electrode materials, and location of lithium plating, etc. This marks a major step forward in developing safer, more efficient and durable batteries.
3SUN and the CEA have carried out their first outdoor ageing campaign on silicon perovskite tandem cells.
What if there were solar panels tomorrow that could produce hydrogen directly from sunlight? With this possibility in mind, several laboratories at CEA-Liten, and most notably at the INES (French National Solar Institute), are currently developing a photo-electrolyser prototype and a test bench.
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CEA is a French government-funded technological research organisation in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. A prominent player in the European Research Area, it is involved in setting up collaborative projects with many partners around the world.